Slide Show

The following notes are taken from a letter by Fra. Ulyses Moyao, OAR, a novice of St. Augustine Province in the novitiate class of 2007-08.

I can tell you that I am very happy here, enjoying my novitiate. As you might imagine, there are a lot of activities here that make the days go by quickly.

We have already had two excursions: to the convents of San Millan de la Cogolla and to Sos del Rey Católico.

In San Millan we saw a great deal, thanks to Fr. Rafael Nieto, OAR, who gave us a really good tour. We visited the sacristy where there is a plaque commemorating the foundation of the Order. We had lunch with the community of the monastery of Yuso. During our visit to San Millan a reporter from TVE (Television Española Internacional) interviewed three of my co-novices . . .

Our next outing was to Sos where we visited the community and ate with them. We than walked through the beautiful town with its narrow streets. From the highest point of the hill where there is an ancient church we could see part of the Pyrenees.

After concluding our visit to Sos we went to Javier where there is a castle and the basilica of San Francisco Javier. We visited the museum which contains paintings of the saint representing his life. Then we went to the basilica where Fr. Ricardo, our novice master, celebrated Mass for us.

Following the visit to Javier we visited the Benedictine Abbey at Layre where we once again had a tour of the historic buildings and library and joined the monks for Evening Prayer . . .

One of the special activities of the novitiate year is the vendimia, the harvesting of the grapes. We started on October 6, working from sunrise to sunset. First we picked the grapes of the Sisters (MAR) and then our own. The MAR vineyard was especially difficult to harvest since the grapes are located in low clusters that require long periods of stooping over. We all had sore backs after that! The reward, of course, was that we got to eat some of the grapes. The small ones were so sweet, like a little taste of heaven!

Earlier, shortly after I arrived, we had picked apples and peaches. Fr. Paco makes apple sauce and apple juice from the fruit. I especially liked the peaches, which we ate right off the tree. I took a knife and peeled one; the first bite tasted like honey. As you can see, we have a lot of work but a lot of fun too!

We started our classes after the holy days of early September, beginning with an explanation of the Liturgy of the Hours with Fr. Javier Legarra who is stationed in “Las Rozas” in Madrid. Two weeks later we took up the study of the Confessions with Fr. Ricardo as our teacher. We made it as far as Book X. Then Fr. José Ramon Perez, provincial of St. Joseph Province came to teach us the Rule. All of the classes have been interesting. There are many themes to explore; many meditations to put into practice . . .

Fra. Ulyses Moyao, OAR